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Friday, December 5, 2014

We are post-racial America, and we are so mad, tho

Before Thanksgiving, I published a piece in Time that took the Ferguson riots and defended them in the light of the historical context of the country, calling out the systemic problem of oppression and asking that the problem of violence be tackled from that end, rather than from the easy-chair route of blaming rioters as animals or just bad individuals who like to ruin shit for funsies. Are those rioters animals and bad individuals who like to ruin shit for funsies? Maybe. I'm not talking about that. Whether they are or not, the issue of the political and societal climate that forces a population to its last resort to be heard needs to be addressed. This problem can't be solved by shaking our heads at it or wagging our fingers at the aggressors. It can't even be solved by helping the business owners get back on their feet (though that will help the community and the innocent victim of this cultural rage). It can only be solved if we look at the root racial problem in this country, open communication, and train both our law enforcement officers and the communities they protect how to interact with each other.

Saying this really got a lot of middle aged white men mad at me. Like a lot of them. They're still emailing me about this. So, I thought I'd round up post-racial America's response to a call for systemic change in the face of last-ditch violent efforts to be heard by oppressed and marginalized peoples.

Let's start with a set of emails from someone calling himself ghetton1gger (isn't that lovely?)

First he attacks the fact that I stay at home with my kids. Which is yawn. I've been in the mommy wars since 2008, and those women are more vicious than poor GN can ever hope to be. Then he invoked the "purple people" argument, amid a lot of other silly, worn-out arguments that say Mike Brown deserved to die.

You should be ashamed of yourself, writing an article that promotes rioting. Even for a stay-at-home-mom, this is idiotic. Your article hits all the hot buttons: unarmed black youth, marginalized voices, pen-up anger. This is the jargon of someone who sits on her bottom at home and doesn't have access to the real world. Here's the reality: Michael Brown weighed 295 pounds and was 6'4", he had just robbed a convenience store, he attacked a police officer, he refused orders to comply. And he was shot dead. Unfortunate? Not if you value law and order. Anybody doing these things--whether white, black, brow, yellow, or purple--would have been shot dead. It just so happens that blacks are far more likely to be involved in violent crimes than any other demographic group. Hopefully, you won't fall victim to black violence. Even if you did, you would find a way to rationalize it as the fault of society. Liberals like you preaching zero accountability are what is causing America to crumble at its very foundation.

By the way, if I ever did "fall victim to 'black violence'" I totally would blame it on society. So there's that.

When that got no response, he wrote me again, a full week later.

Perhaps it is time for you to write an article advocating law and order in the "black community." Negro thugs will continue getting shot by police until they begin to learn some very simple and fundamental lessons.

Oh. You're so right. There is no racial stereotyping in this country anymore. I don't know what I'm even on about.

I have a bunch more emails, but I want to move on to my social media. So I will just leave you with this gem, which is hands down my favorite comment about my article. Email is from Dan.

You are a typical, liberal, know-it-all cunt. Your attempt to justify the savage rioting in your “article” by animals who do not deserve to walk free in this society is not only asinine, it is just stupid. I hope you continue to live in squalor. It is a shame that you have procreated because you are an obvious example of where a gene pool should end. Fuck off and I hope you burn your turkey.

Sadly for Dan, my turkey came out deliciously. Probably because I know it all. I also love "not only asinine, it is just stupid." Like my friend said, that's not only redundant, it's just repetitive. Please note that to Dan, I live in squalor. This is important because apparently on Twitter, I'm a super-rich lady, living in the lap of luxury.

Speaking of Twitter, let's go there.

Here's one of the more sane tweets:

Nov 25: @DLoesch@parentwin: There is no defense in ruining the livelihood of innocent people who did nothing to warrant selfish thuggery.

I hear that, I do. But that's not what I'm talking about. There is a difference between condoning riots and the havoc they wreak, and explaining the underlying forces that create an atmosphere where riots can exist.

Moving on, there are a ton of tweets where people who are so incredibly against rioting go ahead and advocate people riot in my neighborhood. Because I made them mad. And so, they kind of prove my point, don't they? And they haven't even been marginalized in society for decades. They're just throwing a middle-class, white man tantrum. "I DON'T LIKE RIOTING. THEY SHOULD RIOT ON YOUR MOM'S FACE."

Great.

Nov 26: Is @parentwin inviting rioters onto her street or is it only justified when black people are burnt out and looted -- http://

Nov 26: People should riot over Mike Brown in @parentwin's neighborhood. Let's see if she writes this then --> http://

Then there are the tweets stretching it to the piece promoting the destruction of black communities and calling me racist (which I am because I'm white and can never understand, and have really big metaphorical balls talking all over a black issue with my whiteness...but not for the reason they say.)

Nov 30@parentwin Your Time column, while calling for lynching as punishment for self defense, does poor job of explaining why you support lynching

I also got spammed with lots of anuses, so, you know, there's that, too. Let's move on to Facebook.

There's Rod, who's convinced reverse racism is a thing.

If anything, I am racist because I am white." Back in the mid-80's, I moved from Canada to the USA. I didn't know what racism was until I moved to this country. Within the first week I was accosted and punched in the face at a streetlight by a gang of black thugs out of pure jealousy (due to a scooter I owned which my mother just bought me due to my bicycle being stolen by another gang of blacks). If I hadn't escaped, I'm sure they would have continued to pummel me senseless. Fortunately I was able to escape with only a bloody nose, in shock that someone would attack me for no reason at all except "white privilege". If racism = being white, then racism = being any color, and racism means nothing at all. Your definition of racism is empty, void of all meaning. Fast forward to 2004. My company moved their headquarters to the edge of town, where mostly blacks live, in order to prove how "progressive" they were. I was attacked on my way to my car in broad daylight by a gang of black youth. While they were beating on my car, I was able to escape and call the police, who rounded them up within minutes. I declined to press charges, but when I asked why they attacked me, it came down to the color of my skin. Now tell me again, who is a racist? Your article made me sick to my stomach. You are no journalist. A real journalist would be accurate and fair. You might want to read the code of ethics for journalists.

Bill thinks it's a shame I don't give out my address to get some of what's coming to me.

Most journalists are fools. Too bad that this yo-yo won't volunteer her home as a target of acceptable "Black rage"!

Jonathan is one of those who hates rioting. Unless it's at my house. Because I made him mad.

While I steadfastly condemn rioting and the destruction of innocent people's property and belongings that had nothing to do with the altercation between Wilson and Brown, if someone is going to riot anyway, I might think it makes the most sense to riot at Darlena's home and destroy her property. After all, she would be supportive of that...

Glenn is really concerned about my parenting.

Darlena Cunha is a former television producer turned stay-at-home mom to twin four-year-old girls. When she's not parenting, she's writing novels, freelancing, going to grad school BUT NOT WATCHING AND RAISING HER TWINS or blogging at http://parentwin.com.There is no defense of riots, only in Ferguson it is evident neglectful parents such as Darlena Cunha abandoning her twin babies to write such inflammatory criminal statements should have visits by the Child Protective Services which apparently they neglected in the case of the Brown’s matured boy into a hooligan, thief and thug! Where are her twins going?

Jeff: "The idea of white privilege is absurd." Oh.

". If anything, I am racist because I am white. Until I have had to walk in a person of color’s skin, I will never understand, I will always take things for granted, and I will be inherently privileged. " Excuse my ignorance, but is not white a color? Also, the idea of white privilege in today's age of liberal extremes is absurd.

And there are so many more. So, so many more. This is just a smattering. Something almost all the commenters have in common? They are all white men. Seriously. 97 percent of these comments came from white men. The other three percent came from white women.

But really, white men on social media, you are right. The way we are doing things as a country with regard to race is perfectly fine, and everyone should just shut up about it, already. Obviously, you see no color and have no preconceived notions.

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